Indiana Adams from Adored Austin was kind enough to invite me to participate in an Austin fashion bloggers brunch and boutique crawl yesterday and I had SO MUCH FUN!! First, I got to meet two lovely ladies I’d been interacting with online forever, Janette from Fashion Loves People, and Pamela from Market Publique. I also met a new friend, Brooke from Fashism (I am still obsessed with her Sanita clogs and vintage dress – more on that later), and many more of my fellow Austin fashion bloggers.

After the brunch we went on a boutique crawl to several of the fabulous boutiques on 2nd street like Eliza Page, Girl next Door, and Estilo. I had to cut out a bit early, so I didn’t make it to Congress, but I had such a wonderful time! Local restaurant, Cru, invited us in for champagne and chocolate covered strawberries (so indulgent for the middle of a weekday ) and the Etsy Austin girls gave us a fabulous goodie bag filled with lovely pieces handmade by local artists (more on that later too!). Indiana did an amazing job organizing everything, and here’s a short video from our local News8 featuring her and the event. (I’m in there for a split second – a side view of me in my military jacket, hair in a ponytail because it looks awful…)

Enjoy!! and congratulations to Indiana!!

So…here’s a little video I made to talk to you about what’s going on with outfit posts, (I know you were wondering…) and a little about what’s happening with me.

**well, I’m a dummy didn’t realize I had the video set to private. my apologies!! you can see it now**

Miss Sophie’s post I mentioned: Playing Favorites. Maybe I’ll do a video response

The Elizabeth & James earrings:

since I’ve been posting my favorite online sample sales every day, I wonder: do you guys shop the online sample sales? which sites are your favorites? do you find the prices to be great, or not so good?

so…

[poll id="10"]

when all these sites first popped up, I wasn’t interested. and whenever I did try to purchase something, everything miraculously sold out. it was so frustrating, I didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them for a while. then james perse popped up somewhere, and I managed to successfully check out, then I was hooked. I only check the sales for designers I know I already like, but generally I find the prices to be pretty good (but you have to be careful, sometimes the original price is inflated and the deals aren’t that great) and other than having to pay shipping, I’ve had great experiences on both Gilt and Rue La La.

What about you? leave a comment!!

I’m currently really frustrated that I haven’t received this

from alexanderwang.com yet. I ordered it on 2/4 and never received any follow-up e-mail or shipment notification from them, although I know from the site that it was shipped (for free) via UPS. So, I’m just waiting. I’ve e-mailed customer care, but haven’t received an answer. (ugh.) This is why I usually only shop from Shopbop, Revolve or Endless for shoes (although I’ve just noticed that endless is only offering free overnight shipping on new items, 2-day shipping on older items. which is still okay. but I’m TOTALLY into instant gratification )

So, I’m curious, how long can you wait for an online order to be delivered? I generally want my item within a few days, but if I know (I get some communication from the merchant) that it’s coming later, I can be patient. What about you? Do you always go for the free shipping option, no matter how long it takes, or do you pay for an upgrade? Leave a comment!

[poll id="9"]

I’m not going to get into new years’ resolutions or anything like that – I really don’t believe in them – but I am going to make some small changes around here in the next year. 2010 will mark Grechen’s Closet’s SEVENTH year…WHOA…and I although I do feel like I’m constantly adapting to meet new needs & wants, there’s always room for improvement. (incidentally, if you guys have any suggestions at ALL, please let me know in the comments section)

One thing I’m definitely going to do is more video posts. My personal goal this year is to create & maintain my “ultimate closet” and maybe you’ll learn a bit from my journey; I’m nearly there now, but I thought it might be fun to do a video diary of my work. I’m also going to create an Inhabit NY color reference & James Perse reference library, and I really need to work on creating and maintaining the body I want (I gained 20 lbs in the last six months because of new birth control, which I’m going to change again, and hopefully eliminate any more weight gain and bloating) so I’ll feel better photographing myself and being in front of the video camera.

AND…I read a LOT of blogs everyday. I try to comment on the ones I find profound and meaningful, but I never get around to sharing them with you. I’m really going to try and post my favorite reads every week, but in addition, I’d love to also create a venue for other bloggers and visitors to post links to their favorite articles every week. And what better time to start than today:

Please leave a comment below with a link to your favorite blog posts this year, or ever…and if you’re a blogger PLEASE post links to your own work, and others’ if you want!! I will edit out the ones I don’t think are appropriate or relevant, but for the most part, I’ll approve all of the comments.

My favorite blog post this year of mine: Why I support Independent Designers

Please share yours!!

This is so random…but I was just thinking how some of my favorite style bloggers never show their bags in outfit pictures. Well, not NEVER, but hardly ever. I mean, Jane from Sea of Shoes is CLEARLY a shoe girl, and so is her mom; I can’t even remember the last time I noticed a handbag on either of their blogs. Jennine from the coveted will occasionally sport a lovely handbag, but she mostly lets her outfits stand on their own. And that got me thinking…are my bags a crutch? Should I be focusing more on my “outfits?”

As personal style bloggers go, if you can call me that, my outfits are pretty boring. Ultimately, maybe that means that I’m boring, but mostly I think it just reflects the fact that I work at home and work A LOT. When I do go out, I’m all about casual comfort, but I do try to always be put together and “stylish” in my own way. But my only accessory is my bag. I am first to admit that I’m not good at accessorizing with jewelry – my preference is to have a few pieces I just wear all the time, and not even have to think about jewelry when I leave the house. I’ve pretty much achieved that, but I feel like it does leave my outfits lacking.

I also LOVE handbags. I am clearly a bag girl; I love to collect them, I love to shop for them, I love to carry them…I really feel like a fabulous handbag is THE ONE thing every woman needs. I’m not going to go on and on about it, but I can’t tell you how many lovely outfits I’ve seen completely ruined by a bad handbag. I definitely rely on my bag to be the attention grabber of my outfit (unless I’m wearing my pink patent tory burch reva flats) and I love to carry a unique & sometimes controversial bag…

But I also love shoes. If my lifestyle permitted, I’d have some killer shoes, and wear them all the time, but as it is, I mostly wear flats, and am obsessed with comfort, so that dictates the shoes I buy & wear. I still think if I had to choose, I’d put myself clearly in the bag girl camp though…

what about you? are you a bag girl? or a shoe girl?
do you style your outfits around your shoes, your bag, or your jewelry?
do tell!!

(woot! I’m so excited to be a part of this week’s Links a la mode with 19 other fabulous Independent Fashion Bloggers. All the stories are worth a click…please do!)

Style Within Means

Edited by Debutante Clothing

As the summer winds down and I start planning my Fall wardrobe, I’m overwhelmed by thoughts of how to create a wardrobe on a budget. This week, we have a ton of posts on how to find great style within a budget. Fashion Pulse Daily gives us the top denim looks under $50 and The Recessionista is reporting Anna Wintour is heading to Macy’s for Fashion Night Out. Enjoy!

Links à la Mode : Sepetember 3rd

• 39th and Broadway – – The horrific treatment of young girls working behind the scenes in the fashion industry!
• A typical Atypical - – a summary of vintage eras and style history
• Bonne Vie - – Bamboo: Eco-friendly, or Green Disaster?
• Confessions of a Fashion Editor - – Interview with alternative model, Khrist!
• Debutante Clothing – Q&A with Fashion Scholar and Historian Heather Vaughan
• Decline Designs - – Can you go a week without wearing any black?
• Fabulous Finds and Co. – – Lily Cole is ready for her close-up
• Fade to c5c5c5 – – fashion, art and interpretation
• Fashion For Writers - – feel good fashion from the Clothes Closet
• Fashion Pulse Daily - – Need jeans for fall? Check out Fashion Pulse Daily’s top picks, all under
• Fasshonaburu – – ponders exactly why September is the most important month in fashion
• fête à fête - – Givenchy’s romantic Les Poetiques Fall Le Makeup Collection
• Friend in fashion – A Sydney Story: a bridge climb, shopping and a proposal!
• Grechen’s Closet – Why I support independent designers
• Idiosyncratic Style - – A Fit of Inspiration: John Bender – Stealing style from the Breakfast Club’s resident bad ass
• Jewelrywhore – – Reviews Anna Sheffield for Target
• Retro Chick - – DIY Jersey Spaghetti Scarf Necklace
• Style Margarine - – 9 Reasons why we need to over dress
• Stylist Diva - – Unique, Modern Plus Size line with an Edge – Carmakoma.
• The Coveted: – – Review & Makeup Lesson Video of Guerlain Fall Collection
• The Recessionista – – Anna Wintour a Recessionista? She’s Heading to Macy’s Queens for Fashion’s Night out Sept. 10

I’ve been meaning for weeks to put together a rebuttal to the Style Coalition’s video “Don’t Shop” but haven’t been able to come up with words sufficient enough to make my feelings and ideas clear. As I read Anabela’s observations today on fieldguided, I was reminded of the main message I wanted to get across, and that is how IMPORTANT it is to support the designers we love.

My knee jerk reaction to the “Don’t Shop” video was that the designers mentioned in the video are not the ones who need our support – and don’t even get me started on should we be concerned about “saving” NY Fashion Week (I’ve written before about my general distaste for “Fashion Week” and belief that especially NY’s fashion week is generally un-necessary, a colossal waste of money and self-serving). I would also argue that Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabanna don’t “need” our financial support as much as smaller designers do, but in the end of the day if their designs are where your heart lies, then I believe that’s where you should spend your VERY hard-earned money. I’ll reserve mine for independent designers (and James Perse, and Splendid – just being honest).

I cannot even begin to paraphrase Anabela’s brilliant words in her two articles (read this one first, then this one), so I won’t. Please please please read them if you care at all about independent design. I was particularly affected by this quote by Alyson Fox:

I am still not self supporting, but I think I am getting closer. Hopefully. I have a great month and then a really slow month. It is really scary, but also self rewarding. I nanny three times a week to pay the grueling student loan, car insurance, gas and health insurance. Then with what I make from selling my art or from my small clothing line, I save 50 percent of it right off the bat. Then I reinvest the other half back into my work. More so into the clothes since that involves the most overhead. It takes a lot of hard work, sometime tears and a lot of support.

I will never carry or look at my Fox in Mociun tote bag the same way again. I have treasured that bag since the second I got it, I appreciate the design, the pattern and the work that went into it, now more than ever. I guess I have had a very nieve view of independent designers in that I feel like if they’re getting a lot of attention, they’re making money. Anabela negates that in a second with this quote:

I don’t want to sound bitter, but it reminds me (ever so slightly) of the embroidery hoop I made for Baker’s Dozen. I keep seeing its image on blogs. People send me links saying they saw it posted here or there. Others seem to enjoy it. How many have sold? Two. 1, 2.

Wow. That reminds me of how often I post about Necklush and say I’m going to buy one and don’t…I know a lot goes into a decision whether to buy something or not, but I also know that the next time I’m thinking about spending $60 on James Perse, I could spend half that much on a necklush and know that I’m directly impacting someone’s life. I also need to shut up already and buy a Moop bag – or should I go for the quilted loche by SWANclothing instead?

Necklush: $22

swanClothing Quilted Loche: $150

I know how scary it is to be completely dependent on your own business, living day-to-day thinking about when you’ll get your next payment, and then deciding how to use that money to grow your business AND support yourself. At the same time, though, it’s the best feeling in the world – and I want to know that my money, no matter how little, can help another small entrepreneur achieve her dreams of self-sufficiency.

That’s why I will choose to support independent design & designers.

What about you? What are your thoughts on independent design? do you support the designers you write about? Tell me some of your favorite independent designers.

I’m just curious…I don’t really even know what “dressing your age” means. I guess according to certain magazines, you shouldn’t wear neon if you’re over 35, or maybe do a trend again if you were around the first time…but all I’ve ever thought about when I get dressed, or think about buying something is “is this going to fit my lifestyle now, and for years to come.” Maybe that IS dressing my age, because I don’t remember thinking that when I was 20 (I’m 36 now, 37 in November). I’ve just never worried about if I’m dressing “appropriately” or not, mostly because I don’t know if I even feel like I’m 36 (what is 36 supposed to feel like?) and also, because I work at home, for myself, so I don’t have to uphold any particular standards…

I did look through some outfits of the day though, and made some observations:

The outfit on the left is “younger” looking than the outfit on the right:

Right? or wrong?

So….

[poll id="7"]
[poll id="8"]

What do you think it means to dress your age? do you ever “wish” you could dress differently, but don’t feel like you can because you’re concerned you’ll look like you’re trying too hard?

How has the way you’ve thought about fashion changed over the years? has your style evolved? Do you feel pressure from others to dress differently?

From the twitterati:

The_Supermelon
2:46pm, Aug 19 from Web
@greedygrechen Dressing your age is just dressing in a way that wouldn’t embarrass your Mom!

windyhill
2:57pm, Aug 19 from TwitterFox
@greedygrechen I’m your age, & I guess “dressing my age” means no micro-minis! I try to wear “classic” styles, esp.since I tend to look 12.

TofuFairy
3:03pm, Aug 19 from Web
@greedygrechen I am 36 too…I dress as myself…I wear what I like and what is fun and comfy and sometimes trendy…

the_din
3:13pm, Aug 19 from Web
@greedygrechen Dressing your age means not dressing inappropriately young, or far too old.

CandelaCandela
3:16pm, Aug 19 from Tweetie
@greedygrechen dressing ur age means if u r over 30 u can’t wear things ur 10 year old daughter would wear!

Retrochick_uk
10:41am, Aug 20 from TweetDeck
@greedygrechen I’m 30 & wear what I want. I think I’ve a notion that certain things may not suit, but I think more about my figure than age

In spite of the fact that I prefer to shop online (better deals, easier experience), I do like to roam around my two local malls (Lenox & Phipps in Atlanta) every once in a while, first to people watch, and second, to see what I’m missing online. I also like to try things I wouldn’t normally try, or buy online, and shopping B&M is the only way to do that. (last time I tried something “new” I ended up with my Joe’s Jeans Ex-Lovers. which I love.)

Anyway, yesterday I ventured out with my Bloomie’s Friends & Family 20% off coupon to see if I could find anything worth buying = nothing. I also wanted to check in at Barney’s Co-Op, somewhere I haven’t been in ages, to see my favorite SA’s and peek at their exclusive pink Alexander Wang Donna hobo bag (which is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I really loved all the Loomstate for Barney’s Green pieces; the colors are gorgeous, and the styles fabulous – WAY better than the Loomstate for Target line, of course. This tank was my favorite.

Then, I got lost in James Perse HEAVEN at Saks. Seriously, they have the biggest selection I’ve ever seen in an offline store – it’s way bigger than it used to be. I did end up leaving with a tank that was on sale for $26, but I tried on a couple of dresses that were tempting, but didn’t buy (this dress was awesome, just a little short for me – and it’s on sale at Shopbop). Then I came home and ordered three more tanks – I already had one I bought on sale at Nordstrom in January, and stalked sales, etc., to try and find more – this is the most fabulous tank ever. This is the color I got at Saks for $26:

I wandered around Anthropologie for a bit, didn’t find anything I desperately needed, or even wanted, except some pink moleskine notebooks. But I didn’t buy them…like I need more moleskines. Then again, can you ever have enough? and these were PINK!

Finally, I ended up in J Crew – don’t ask me how – trying a few things on that caught my eye. MISTAKE! Every single time I go to J Crew I swear it will be my last, but I just don’t listen…the new t-shirts are way cute, but they fit me horribly – they’re always a tad snug around my upper arms, and HUGE around the middle. Really terrible. And don’t even get me started on their pants – definitely not good for hips, or a butt, or thighs for that matter. Anyway, I’m really and truly finished with J Crew now. For good.

So, that gets me to my question: how often do you shop offline? Do you only go out shopping if you’re not looking for anything particular? or the opposite – do you prefer to shop offline for specific things?

I find that everytime I go shopping offline, I want to scream at the top of my lungs to people that they should be shopping online Sometimes you get lucky and find something offline on sale for a great price, but most of the time, I see things at Saks, or Nordstrom, or wherever that are cheaper, or at least available with a coupon code online, and CANNOT bring myself to buy it at a store.

What about you?

[poll id="6"]